Vintage Crop: Company Man 7" (new)

Vintage Crop: Company Man 7" (new)


Tags: · 10s · australia · hcpmf · post-punk · punk · recommended · spo-default · spo-disabled
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Vintage Crop are back! The aficionados of awkward rock have taken no annual leave after this year’s New Age LP, choosing instead to deliver their latest project; a 4-track 7” titled Company Man.

Now firmly in control of their sound, Vintage Crop exhibit their ability to dial up their brash, sarcastic brand of punk as they see fit. Reciting tales of corporate greed, broken promises & unusually long extremities - A 4 track EP that explores life in a suit & tie. Company Man is inundated with the same nervous energy that drove New Age; sharp guitars and unsteady riffs - a claustrophobic space further impinged by the everyday grind.

These four songs are a stand-alone release & will not feature on any future release. Vintage Crop & their associates do not believe in marketing gimmicks.

"Work sucks, right? Right. Just another thing to get through before your day can truly begin. Drudgery, tedium and misery – and for what? Enough money to keep four walls around yourself, with enough left over for records and whatever else you use to take the edge off? Holy shit, the whole system’s fucked.

Well, here’s Vintage Crop with an entire EP dedicated to the working week – the Company Man 7" comprises four tracks of rickety, snotty and extremely pointed garage punk that jabs and prods at the whole notion of working for a living, before laughing bitterly in its stupid face and setting it all on fire.

‘How do I contribute when I’m a subordinate’ and ‘I’m here for money and pleasure’ are the key lines, illustrating their disdain and existential despair towards the very idea of signing your life away to something as ridiculous as a job. Meanwhile, the band make like Wire, Low Culture and all your favourite mid-fi punk heroes getting antsy-aggro in a queue for the bathroom. Yeah, pretty damn perfect.

Vintage Crop hail from Geelong, Australia, and describe themselves as ‘a group of people who spent their adolescence playing sport, listening to triple J and shunning the local scene’ – except now they’ve ‘smartened up, changed the channel and stopped exercising’. As for me, I’d describe them as the latest and greatest in an ongoing explosion in ridiculously good Oz-punk, from Royal Headache to the Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys; Amyl And The Sniffers to The Chats, and beyond.

Well, that’s how I’d describe ‘em if I wasn’t busy right now. I’m currently typing up my resignation letter and spray painting pictures of dicks on my boss’ car – records like this make work seem like a waste of time. Let’s all quit together."
Will Fitzpatrick 



Our take: We last heard from Australia’s Vintage Crop on last year’s New Age LP, and if you liked that record I’m sure you’ll be on board with this. I’m stealing this from label’s description of the first LP, but if you’re familiar enough with Eddy Current Suppression Ring and Uranium Club to imagine a 50/50 mix of the two bands’ sounds, you’re probably not far off from Vintage Crop. The back of the jacket says, in a self-aware manner, “Can Vintage Crop be a marketable band in 2019??” Is Vintage Crop hinting that they have bigger ambitions? Are they pledging allegiance to the DIY underground? A little of both? Parquet Courts, who don’t sound too far off from Vintage Crop themselves, have blazed a trail for making music that sounds vital and ambitious yet appeals to a wider audience, and I could see Vintage Crop heading down the same path. For now, though, they’re just a standout punk band with some of the catchiest tracks around. If you like the aforementioned bands, odds are you’ll really enjoy both Company Man and the previous LP, so give ‘em a listen.